Computing system and computing network security includes a number of aspects, including, for example, monitoring application programs that a computing system attempts to run, monitoring messages received at a computing system, and monitoring network sites that a computing system attempts to access. In the event that such monitoring reveals a potential security risk, access to the application, message, or site may be preceded by a warning, or may be denied entirely, based on the level of perceived risk. Risk may be determined by any of a number of factors, and may be based on the likelihood that a computing system may be used in an undesired manner if access is allowed to the potential security risk. In order to reduce the likelihood that a system is used in an undesired manner, systems often have security software that operates to monitor activity of the system and provide warnings or preclude access to undesirable content. In a network setting, each client system of the network often has such security software installed, along with other network components such as servers, routers, and the like.
In an enterprise setting, where a computing network may include many systems across a number of different enterprise sites, computer and network security is also important. Many enterprises require that data on the enterprise network be secure, and that components of the enterprise network are not used in an undesirable manner. For example, a computer virus may infect an enterprise network resulting in network components such as client computers, servers, routers, and the like to malfunction. Such an event may result in a significant loss of productivity, and a significant expenditure of resources in order to recover from the malfunction(s) caused by the virus. Also, in some cases, such an event may result in confidential or valuable data being lost or accessed by an unauthorized party. As mentioned, security software installed in various network components reduces the chances that such an event occurs, however, such software may not identify a threat before it is too late, and a system, or network, is infected.
As mentioned, in an enterprise setting, numerous network components are often interconnected to an enterprise network across multiple enterprise sites. Management of such network components is often a difficult task, simply due to the relatively large number of systems and software applications that are present. In many enterprise settings, software installation and updates to individual client systems can be a burdensome task, and thus it is often desired to reduce such events to that extent that such reduction is possible. For this reason, many enterprises, to the extent possible, desire to have applications installed on servers or other more centralized network components, rather than individual client systems. Such installations reduce the number of applications running on client systems, thereby increasing the performance of the client systems for the end users, and also reduces the need to push software installations and updates to the client systems.